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Warriors as tanks
The primary role of the warrior in PvE is that of the tank. Basically a tank is the character who takes the brunt of the mob's damage, warriors are best suited for this because they take damage more efficiently than any other class, meaning that given the exact same situation, a warrior will take less actual damage than any other class of character. This role falls to the warrior because of his high armor (mail early, and later plate) and skills needed to hold the mob's aggro (aggression). =Roles= Grabbing Aggro, and Holding it Tanks are divided into two schools on holding aggro: those who prefer to sunder repeatedly, and those who use revenge as their primary method of aggro generation. Sunder can be used at any time, and is on the global cooldown, and so it can be used repeatedly, draining rage quickly but creating a lot of aggro. Revenge is the ability that creates the most threat, however it can only be used after a successful dodge, block, or parry. What most warriors seem to overlook is the fact that shield bash creates quite a bit of threat, almost as much as revenge, and it costs less than sunder. Generally, a mix of all three is most effective, leading off with a shield bash, with rage coming either from a charge or a bloodrage, followed by sunder armor and revenge, as available. Generally, it is easiest to tank if all of your party members are attacking the same mob. This can easily be accomplished through the use of the /assist command. Everyone should have a macro that consists of /assist Playername where Playername is the name of the Main Assist. (Alternatively, you can remember your main assist's hotkey, so for example, you can press F2 and then F, which is by default bound to assist.) Though many people want the tank to be the main assist, any good tank must switch targets to effectively tank more than one mob, therefore the best person to assist is generally a rogue. Rogues cannot change targets or they will lose any combo points they had on their original target. Other good main assists are hunters, paladins, warlocks, or mages. Once everyone is attacking the same mob, tanking becomes simple. Focus your attacks on the main mob, while occationally switching to another mob quickly in order to use revenge or shield bash once. This single application of a threatening ability may not be enough to keep aggro off something that is being attacked by a hunter or rogue, but it will be enough to keep the mob off the healer while the main target is dealt with. Most of your attacks should be aimed at the mob that is taking all the damage, as it will be hardest to tank. Remember that sunder armor not only holds agro but helps other physical classes with DPS. If you find yourself with too much rage, simply let off a few cleaves. This adds threat not only to the main mob, but also some of the others. If you master these techniques, you may find it easier to tank four or five mobs than one, as the more mobs you have attacking you the more rage you will generate. Just make sure that you have a healer that can keep up! The mark of a truly great warrior is that you will never see a Taunt debuff on a mob while in his group. Taunt generates no agro, merely forces the mob to focus on the warrior. This should never be needed, and should be used only when it is absolutely needed. It can be effective, however, against mobs with complicated knockback, which is to say Molten Giants in Molten Core, and Teremus the Devourer in the Blasted Lands. These mobs have an ability that knocks the warrior back about ten yards and clears ALL threat that the warrior has generated. This puts the warrior in a position where he cannot use any of his aggro-generating abilities, as he is out of range. These mobs then procede to go to town on the nearest mage or priest, often causing death. Timed correctly, taunt can prevent this. If used immediately after the knockback connects, while the warrior is in the air, the mob will follow the warrior through his knockback path, and be in range for all aggro-generating abilities upon landing. In this and other situations, taunt must be used. At most other times, it should be saved for emergencies, such as aggro on the main healer. Other times taunt is useful include Lava Surger fights in Molten Core. Lava Surgers don't even have a hate list; targets are chosen completely at random. Taunt, however, forces them to attack the taunter for two seconds, and mocking blow will give six seconds of cloth wearers not being hit, except by the random surges that cause damage and knockback, which are never enough to kill even a cloth wearer. Taunt can be useful, but it is often given too much importance by tanks; it is at best a stopgap measure, not truly an aggro holding ability. Primary tank The point of the primary tank is not to deal damage, but to take it. It is also a tank's job to gain aggro and keep it. While one way of doing this is to deal damage, usually other party members will be dealing more pain than the warrior, so the tank should focus more on using abilities to hold aggro than damage. This being the case, primary tanks are almost always best served by using a shield and a one handed weapon, particularly those that boost defense and Stamina. If you want to make tanking the purpose of your warrior's existence, the Protection talent tree is your friend, with Arms as a second. Most warriors tend to prefer a more damage dealing approach while leveling up to 60, since the extra bonuses to defence that the talent tree gives isn't very notable until higher instances. Therefore most warriors tend to their daily business with a two-handed weapon, but always keep a shield and a one-hander handy in their backpack. Gear with +Defense is the trademark of any equipment that a primary tank uses, the more defense a tank has the more chance they have to dodge, parry, block, resist critical strikes and resist crushing blows. Considerable "easy to get" primary tanking gear with defense at level 60: *Helmet - Golem Skull Helm *Necklace - Medallion of Grand Marshal Morris *Shoulders - Bulky Iron Spaulders *Chest - Ornate Adamantium Breastplate or Kromcrush's Chestpiece *Belt - Stalwart Clutch *Bracers - Fel Hardened Bracers *Hands - Force Imbued Gauntlets or Stonegrip Gauntlets *Legs - Legplates of the Eternal Guardian *Trinkets - Demon's Blood or Force of Will Secondary tank The secondary tank, in contrast, is there to do damage. They are also there to intercept mobs that break away from the primary tank and they care more about buffing the group and, in particular, protecting the party's healer. Secondary tanks tend to go for armor similar to a primary tank, but forgo a sheild in lieu of a two-handed weapon. Considerable secondary tanking gear at level 60: *Helmet - Lionheart Helm *Necklace - Emberfury Talisman *Shoulder - Spaulders of Valor *Chest - Breastplate of Valor *Belt - Omokk's Girth Restrainer *Bracers - Vambraces of the Sadist or Battleborn Bracers *Gauntlets - Reiver Claws or Stronghold Gauntlets *Legs - Eldritch Reinforced Legplates *Trinkets - Blackhand's Breadth An interesting tactic for a mid- to high-level Protection warrior while soloing – build up 60 or 70 rage, then switch to the slowest two hander available (Corpsemaker is a good one for low 30's, Whirlwind Mace is an amazing one for as soon as you can get it), hit Concussion Strike, and then use Slam two to three times. You'll deal out full damage in less than half the time. =Aggro Skills By The Numbers= Cop on The Steel Warrior Forum posted the following set of aggro skills and their relative aggro ratings. * Skill Name * Rage cost. * Listed damage before armor is applied, taken directly from the tooltip. * Attached or "innate" hate. This is completely independent of the damage the skill produces. It is purely a hidden "bonus blast" of hate when the skill lands successfully. * perks: qualitative reasons to use a certain skill * negs: negative stuff about the skill * Total hate including damage under varying armor levels. * Hate per point of rage. This number indicates efficiency if you're wondering how best to dump your rage. Once again, it does include damage. Formula used in #5: [ ((HateMin + HateMax)/2) + (((DamageMin + DamageMax)/2) * (1-DamageReduction) * 4.0 ] / RageCost Revenge * 5 rage * 64-78 damage * 1200-1250 "innate" hate * perks: very high efficiency, chance to stun with talents, fair damage for rage cost * negs: unreliable, and often requires use of a 10 rage skill to allow its use ;0% Damage Reduction * 1510 total hate * 302 hate per point rage ;25% Damage Reduction * 1440 total hate * 288 hate per point rage ;50% Damage Reduction * 1370 total hate * 273 hate per point rage Shield Slam * 30 rage * 450-550 damage * 925-975 "innate" hate * perks: 50% chance to dispell 1 magic effect, good damage, much improved efficiency as of test patch 1.7 * negs: efficiency is very dependent on armor ;0% Damage Reduction * 2950 total hate * 98 hate per point rage ;25% Damage Reduction * 2450 total hate * 82 hate per point rage ;50% Damage Reduction * 1950 total hate * 65 hate per point rage Thunderclap * 20 rage * 103 damage (in battle stance, hate modifier of 2.25) * 200-250 "innate" hate * perks: 10% attack rate debuff, affects up to 4 targets * negs: must be used in battle stance, breaks CC ;0% Damage Reduction * 460 total hate * 23 hate per point rage ;25% Damage Reduction * 400 total hate * 20 hate per point rage ;50% Damage Reduction * 340 total hate * 17 hate per point rage Sunder Armor * 12 rage (15 without talents) * no damage * 1025-1075 "innate" hate * 1050 total hate * 88 hate per point rage (70 without talents) * perks: lowers target armor, no cooldown * negs: Some claim aggro is spotty with sunder armor when the debuff gets pushed off, when the debuff expires, or when it's stacked more than 5 times. My findings suggest none of this is true. Shield Bash * 10 rage * 45 damage (ignores armor) * 725-775 "innate" hate * perks: spell interruption, silences for 3 seconds with talents * negs: long cooldown, spamming of the skill means it won't be available when needed * 930 total hate * 93 hate per point rage Demorializing Shout * 10 rage * no damage * 165-185 "innate" hate * 175 total hate * 18 hate per point rage * perks: attack power debuff, unlimited targets * negs: very low rage efficiency Heroic Strike at 3 rage per swing * 15 rage (18 without talents) * 138 damage * 590-630 "innate" hate * perks: good damage, cooldown is weapon speed, doesn't interfere with global cooldown, instant attacks can be used while waiting for it to fire. * negs: hinders rage production from attacks ;0% Damage Reduction * 1160 total hate * 77 hate per point rage (65 without talents) ;25% Damage Reduction * 1020 total hate * 68 hate per point rage (57 without talents) ;50% Damage Reduction * 890 total hate * 59 hate per point rage (49 without talents) Heroic Strike at 7 rage per swing * 19 rage (22 without talents) * 138 damage * 590-630 "innate" hate * perks: good damage, cooldown is weapon speed, doesn't interfere with global cooldown, instant attacks can be used while waiting for it to fire. * negs: hinders rage production from attacks ;0% Damage Reduction * 1160 total hate * 61 hate per point rage (53 without talents) ;25% Damage Reduction * 1020 total hate * 54 hate per point rage (47 without talents) ;50% Damage Reduction * 890 total hate * 47 hate per point rage (40 without talents) Cleave at 3 rage per swing * 23 rage * 50 damage (110 with talents) * 370-420 "innate" hate * perks: hits two targets, cooldown is weapon speed, more than doubled efficiency if a second enemy is in frontal arc, fair damage, doesn't interfere with global cooldown * negs: hinders rage production from attacks, is on-next-attack so it prevents the use of other skills if you wait for it to fire ;0% Damage Reduction * 590 total hate (830 with talents) * 26 hate per point rage (36 with talents) ;25% Damage Reduction * 540 total hate (720 with talents) * 23 hate per point rage (31 with talents) ;50% Damage Reduction * 490 total hate (610 with talents) * 21 hate per point rage (27 with talents) Cleave at 7 rage per swing * 27 rage * 50 damage (110 with talents) * 370-420 "innate" hate * perks: hits two targets, cooldown is weapon speed, more than doubled efficiency if a second enemy is in frontal arc, fair damage, doesn't interfere with global cooldown * negs: hinders rage production from attacks, is on-next-attack so it prevents the use of other skills if you wait for it to fire ;0% Damage Reduction * 590 total hate (830 with talents) * 22 hate per point rage (31 with talents) ;25% Damage Reduction * 540 total hate (720 with talents) * 20 hate per point rage (27 with talents) ;50% Damage Reduction * 490 total hate (610 with talents) * 18 hate per point rage (23 with talents) Bloodrage * 20 rage generated * 337 damage to a level 60 player (168 with talents) * 325-345 "innate" hate * perks: generates a good amount of rage * negs: the mob must be focused on you for it to create aggro, takes hp, less with talents =Tanking Guide= GraniteMG posted the following tanking guide on Steel Warrior Forum: Threat Generation The number 1 complaint I've heard about warriors is threat generation. Hunters complain because their pets hold aggro better than most warriors, healers hate healing themselves more than the tank, etc. In 60 levels of duoing with a hunter, even with growl on at times, there's no point where a pet should be able to keep aggro from a warrior. Threat based skills see above *Revenge *Shield Bash *Shield Slam *Sunder *Heroic Strike Now Blizzard went and labeled the skill so that some of them say high threat, moderate threat, etc. This was a great idea, but the problem is... they lie to you! Heroic strike is not high threat; it's decent, and I use it here and there, but it doesn't compare to shield bash which is remarkably not listed as having extra threat. The order in which I prioritize skill use is the order those abilities are listed in. Revenge will always be used if its up, it generates remarkable amounts of hate, and at 5 rage to boot. Shield Bash is the same thing, I use it every time it's refreshed for extra hate. Not everyone will have shield slam, but due to the hefty rage cost it's situational anyway. It's phenomenal when fighting 1-2 mobs, and I'd use it every refresh in those cases, but when trying to keep aggro from 3-5 mobs I only use it when I'm taking enough damage to have excess rage. I use sunder after that. I have a theory that after you have 5 sunders on a mob, they don't produce as much hate. It's just a theory, but it's one I stick to. I use heroic strike to add some damage, but it doesn't get used often unless I know I already have hate established via the other skills. Most people don't have trouble keeping aggro on 1 mob, especially if you stick to what I listed above, so going to move on... Multiple Mob Pulls Myth: Spamming Demoralizing Shout is good for holding AE aggro. I have max improved demoralizing shout. Fact: I can attest to it being absolute garbage for aggro. If you need to hold aggro on multiple mobs, you have to be attentive and intelligent about it. I see it as fortunate that being a good tank is not a lazy job; others might not. Here's what an average pull of 4-5 mobs is like for me: *Pull 4 mobs (I generally pull, though in a tough situation a hunter might be better for pulling) *Shield Bash Mob1 *Demoralizing shout for Contact Aggro with Mobs 2-4 *Revenge Mob1 (I generally use 2 abilities on the first mob before locking in aggro with the others, otherwise I'm sure to lose aggro if there's a rogue around) *Sunder Mob2 *Shield Bash Mob3 *Sunder Mob 4 *Revenge Mob1 *Sunder's not really incredible aggro, so I'll hit mobs 2-4 each with a shieldbash/sunder/revenge again then stay on the main mob. If Mob1 is dead, I'll stick to mob2 to maintain aggro from the DPS. If it's an AE situation, you'll have to switch targets constantly. When we do AE things, I generally try and grab the 3 hardest hitting mobs and keep them on me. Trying to keep any more than that is just unreasonable when mages are spamming Arcane Explosion, and warlocks are going nuts with hellfire. Try it out, get use to it. Seems like a lot of work at first, but eventually it becomes second nature and your groups will love you for it. Gear You'll hear varying opinions on gear. Some people will stick to just armor and stamina for tanking, though in WoW, I don't generally like to. Unlike Everquest, more hp does not always equal better tank. There's no hp in this game, and healers will be adjusting to burst DPS regardless. Most of the time healers will ONLY be using their flash heals and Power words. Because of this, I believe you can't really devalue avoidance as a means of damage mitigation. I run about 35-37% avoidance, depending on buffs. That's 35-37% less healing I need. People might say avoidance is too spikey, but the alternative is just taking all the damage anyway. Avoidance can be spikey, but it offers mana breaks to your healers, as long as your healers are on the ball and talented, avoidance is always a boon. Healing in World of Warcraft isn't the automated push button and walk away it was in Everquest. (Trust me, the healers enjoy this fact too.) That said, this is how I evaluate gear for tanking: Stamina Stamina is bread and butter. Get as much as you can, but (and this is a big but!) not at the cost of sacrificing avoidance or mitigation. Stamina is very important to a point, that point is being able to survive a round of max damage from a mob. After that, stamina simply acts as buffer for your healers to give them breathing room. Efficiency is better than buffer! Armor Mitigation is the best source of damage reduction you can get. It's consistent so your healers love it, that alone makes it better than avoidance by a small margin. An equal amount of mitigation will always be just a little bit better than an equal amount of avoidance. On that note mitigation tends to have "diminishing returns". This is a tad deceptive, as it scales in a different way. The % reduced may not be as high per point of armor as you get more, but think about this: Going from 0% to 50% means you're taking half as much damage as when you have 0% reduction, but going from 50% to 75% also means you're taking half as much damage as if you have 50% reduction. Avoidance 1% Dodge, 1% Parry etc. These are all great to have. Value 1% avoidance just under 1% mitigation, and you'll be doing good for yourself. The main reason I value it even this high is because of the effects it avoids. Dodging an onyxia knockback isn't too shabby! Agility A bonus of 20 agility is always going to be better than 1% dodge straight up for one simple reason. DPS does matter when tanking. Don't let anyone tell you different. The skills are what make you as a tank, but doing decent dps keeps your aggro up there. The damage you do scales with equipment, but the threat generated by skills doesn't! So don't try using a 20dps mace just because it gives 7 defense; it's just not worth it. Defense The best way to look at defense is to see it as 1.2% avoidance per 10 points. If you value defense solely for the avoidance it provides you'll generally get enough defense to avoid critical hits anyway. 10 points of defense = 0.4% Dodge/Parry/Block/Mob-missrate/mob-critrate. Defense all around is fantastic. Block Block's usefulness dies off exponentially. With a good shield and 3 pieces of might, % block could be useful, but only in large quantities. For raid tanking, I generally see 1% block as one-sixth as useful as 1% dodge. When a mob is hitting for 700-800, how useful is blocking (even for 125 with a great shield and block bonuses) going to be compared to avoiding the attack completely? Of course, for lower hitting mobs it's more useful. Specific Mobs Onyxia Onyxia isn't as painful as you might expect. Generally a paladin can heal through the standard melee on me and a priest can cover the burst dps. It seemed like they could do that infinitely. Generally I run as much FR on onyxia as possible. I've worked hard on my FR gear, and while it isn't perfect yet, I sit at around 260FR buffed as of writing this. For Onyxia that's a huge boon, I resist 75% of her fire breaths, and thats a huge chunk of her DPS. They hit for 3600, and she uses them often. The Process: When tanking Onyxia, you'll head in, take a swing at her while you move in front of her, then turn around and start building aggro. The entire time you'll be backpedaling and she'll eventually throw you. The position you want her in is fairly close to the north wall, dead center. Positioning her is the challenge of the raid. Onyxia is the most attention-intensive mob I've ever tanked. If the tank slacks, the raid wipes. She knocks back often; each time she does, she tends to deaggro you some, and if you don't move back to her immediately she'll move up to you. That's bad! You want her a good 20 feet away from the north wall, so that when she uses her knockback you hit the wall and run back at her. If she's too close when she uses her knockback, you'll slide along the wall and then she'll kill half the raid with a poorly timed fire breath. So to reiterate, you CAN NOT wall her. You can get right underneath her feet if she happens to get close, to give yourself some more breathing room... and a trick on repositioning... she's scared of mice. What I mean by that is if you run up to her feet, then slowly nudge forward, and forward, eventually she'll turn around and take a few steps back and face you again. This is perfectly fine even though the raid might freak out. Her back isn't really to the raid, it's just the animation, there's no risk of tail swipes or anything like that from everything I've seen. Once you've got her in a good position you have to constantly run back at her and cycle your abilities. It's an intense job. Category:Tactics Category:Warriors